Family Planning: Adolescents Tell Stories Of Stigma Inside Lagos Youth-Friendly Centres

BY CHIOMA UMEHA Lagos – When women and girls have access to contraception, fewer babies and mothers die. Around the world, millions of women can’t get the contraception they want. Numerous studies show that the ability to plan pregnancy is directly and unequivocally linked to lower maternal mortality, lower infant and under-five mortality, lower mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and a whole host of improved health indicators. Here is just one example: when a woman spaces her births by at least three years, her newborn baby is twice as likely to reach its first birthday. However, negative reports on sexual reproductive health (SRH) outcomes in the country show that there is a need to improve access to family planning information and services for Nigerian adolescents. The 2014 World Health Organisation’s (WHO) report and 2013 Nigeria by our Reporter Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) presented the worrisome statistics of Nigerian young women whose lives are c